Welcome to Night Vale
by cupidity11
Summary: Something caught his eye, a sign on the side of the road. The radio changed, jumping quickly from static to a voice, a deep voice, a voice that echoed the sign's message. "Welcome to Night Vale…"- The entirety of Welcome to Night Vale from perfect Carlos' POV.
1. Pilot

It took several days for the big cities to give way to pure sand, the urban sprawls holding onto the land, refusing to give up, a tug of war with the earth until it lost its grip and then it was all desert. In front, behind and on the sides. The car kept them cool, blasting them with air, a shield from the inevitable heat. There were four of them in this vehicle and four more in the car behind them. The radio played the top 100 hits, occasionally interspersed with commentary from some man trying to sound clever.

Carlos blocked it all out, as he was the one driving. It wasn't all that hard considering everything looked the same; dark dunes of yellow, hills of brown. Dotted with cacti and the sun was coming up, spreading colors across the skyline. He itched his nose with one hand, occasionally glancing in the rearview mirror. He was excited, but he kept it hidden much better than his fellow scientists who were chatting in the back seat about their new…assignment. The map was in his lap, a giant 'x' marking the location since there wasn't any identifying markers.

Carlos ran over what their boss had said to them in his head; unexplainable incidences, things that made no sense and were terrifyingly gruesome. People didn't stay very long in this town. They died or they ran, screaming. The citizens were peculiar, the buildings were as well. It was located near an old atomic bomb testing site. As well as several burial grounds and ghost towns.

His blood thrummed with anticipation. To get to study such a place, to figure out what made it tick. A chance of a life time. The scientist glanced down at the map, and then up again. Surely they were getting close now. They ran over a rock and the equipment in the trunk jingled dangerously, making him wince.

Granted this wasn't exactly what he'd thought he'd be doing when he'd graduated nearly five years ago but, it was far better than being stuck in a lab doing research about pet dander or something equally as redundant. They needed brave, intelligent people to figure out these anomalies and Carlos was willing to give it a shot.

The music on the radio was something he'd heard a thousand times and he still couldn't quite remember the lyrics though he found he could hum it. One of the other scientists, Linda, he thought, knew the words. She was singing it in a purposefully tone deaf manner, making the others laugh. Carlos allowed himself a smile.

The music was suddenly interspersed with static. The tune could still be heard but, the singer's voice was gone. The static rose. Carlos frowned and tried to change the station, turning the knob with his free hand. Every single station held nothing but static, an occasional word or tune jumping out at him but when he tried to keep it there, everything dissolved into noise.

"Hey!" Jeff, Carlos thought his name was, yelled, a pale hand pointing ahead of them. "Look! We're almost there." He looked up from the stupid radio and swallowed. Off in the distance, the sun was rising above the horizon, shining behind a little square city, nestled in the sand. Several lights shone, green and purple and yellow.  
Something caught his eye, a sign on the side of the road. The radio changed, jumping quickly from static to a voice, a deep voice, a voice that echoed the sign's message.

_"Welcome to Night Vale…"_

Carlos blinked, slightly astonished but, shaking it off. The sign was black with a single eyeball in the center. They passed it too quickly for him to really get a good look. He ignored the part of his brain that said he saw it blink.

The scientists were silent now, studying their surroundings like all good scientists did. There was a steep hill that their car went down and then the road was flat, flat all the way into the city. Meanwhile the voice on the radio kept talking,_" Hello, listeners. To start things off, I've been asked to read this brief notice: "The City Council announces the opening of a new dog park at the corner of Earl and Sommerset, near the Ralph's. They would like to remind everyone that dogs are not allowed in the dog park."_

Carlos went to change the channel, but every single station had that same voice. Not that it was a bad thing precisely. Somehow it was rather calming despite the worrying message. They passed what looked like a large housing community, named Marshall's Gorge, going by the large sign on the outside of a large wooden fence. They passed a surprisingly green area with park benches and several signs.

"Mission Grove Park." Linda said to the car, hand pressed against the glass window. They were all silent as they turned down the sun bleached streets. They followed the signs, and Carlos kept glancing at the address numbers. They passed the Museum of Forbidden Technology and what looked like a college campus. They finally arrived at the place they would set up their lab, right next to a pizza place called Rico's.

Carlos pulled up and parked the car in front of the building, which looked more like a warehouse than a lab but, it would work. It would have to. He shut off the engine, cutting the voice off as well, midsentence. He felt rude for some reason. As soon as they were still everyone pilled out. Carlos ran a hand through his hair and felt himself already starting to sweat even though the sun had just barely risen above the horizon.

His fellow scientists were talking. He wasn't much of a conversationalist so he listened instead.

"Some of us should stay here to set up and the rest of us can go to Town Hall to check in and do the meeting." Before he could volunteer to stay behind, though Linda, Jeff, Mark and…Sarah (? He was bad at names) had already began to unpack the car. Carlos showed no outwards sign of displeasure but, on the inside he was scowling. Damn it.  
Adam, the leader of this expedition and one of the few people who Carlos had known from college patted him on the back. "Come on, Rioz. Might as well make a good impression." He smiled and Carlos returned the grin.

"Yeah. Might as well."

The ride over to the town hall should've been uneventful. It wasn't even 8 AM yet, but the voice on the radio ruined all of that.

_"A new man came into town today. Who is he? What does he want from us? Why his perfect and beautiful haircut? Why his perfect and beautiful coat? He says he is a scientist." _Carlos nearly choked on his own tongue. Adam looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. Who was this guy? How did he know about them? They'd been in town for a little less than 15 minutes. Carlos shook his head at Adam, who grinned, a bit uneasy himself.

"Which one of us do you think he's talking about?" The voice continued, while Carlos shook his head.

_"Well. We have all been scientists at one point or another in our lives. But why now? Why here? And just what does he plan to do with all those breakers and humming electrical instruments in that lab he's renting? The one next to Big Rico's Pizza. No one does a slice like Big Rico...no one…"_

"No idea. Probably Jeff. He's got pretty good hair, right?" Adam laughed. Jeff was bald.

The town hall wasn't too big, in fact it probably had trouble fitting everyone in the city but, it was air conditioned and Carlos was grateful. He was also grateful for the maps they had sitting in a little shelf. It had the entire area, as well as several numbers on the back. Some were obvious, the local police station, and the underneath that the Sheriff's Secret Police (how were they different from the police? And why were they secret when their number was written on the bag of a public map?) and…then the radio station? His brows furrowed. Why would you need that number?

"Ready?" Adam asked from behind Carlos who jumped a bit before nodding. They went down a little hallway and into a large meeting room. Several people were already here. He watched them closely, noting their shaky hands and how they weren't meeting anyone else's eyes. They looked normal enough. In fact they looked too normal. Tan as the sand, normal features. Nothing striking that would make anyone remember them.

As the minutes went by more and more people streamed in until the place was full and buzzing with a strange energy, with anxious conversation. There were kids and adults, people young and old. A table had been set up in the back, with food and drink. Also in the back were several black clad figures, wearing sunglasses and headsets. Carlos' eyes narrowed. They were still and expressionless. He would bet his left shoe that they were the Sheriff's Secret Police.

Adam nudged his shoulder and Carlos stood, brushing his hands off on his jeans. While public speaking had never been his favorite thing to do, he was good at it. Better than Adam who nodded. The room fell silent very, very quickly. So quickly that it was shocking. You could've heard a pin drop. Or the distant voice of the radio.

"Hello, Night Vale. My name is Carlos and this is my co-worker Adam. We're scientists from New York's Advanced and Specialized Research Facility. We are here because you are, by far, the most scientifically interesting community in the US. And we're here to study just what is going on around here to make it that way." The faces were changing, going from dull or anxious to a bit excited or flattered and he couldn't help but respond by smiling a bit.

"We hope you'll accept us into your wonderful community. If you have any questions or wish to contribute, we have business cards."

So Adam handed those out while Carlos wandered outside of the room, trying not to talk to anyone, wondering if they had any vending machines around here. He was searching his pocket for extra change when he caught his own name on the radio. His head snapped up and the quarter he'd grabbed fell to the floor and rolled under the machine.

_"That new scientist, we now know is named Carlos, called a town meeting. He has a square jaw and teeth like a military cemetery. His hair is perfect, and we all hate and despair and love that perfect hair in equal measure. Old Woman Josie brought corn muffins, which were decent, but lacked salt. She said the angels had taken her salt for a godly mission, and she hadn't yet gotten around to buying more. Carlos told us that we are, by far, the most scientifically interesting community in the U.S. And he had come to study just what was going on around here! He grinned, and everything about him was perfect."_

An unwilling blush worked its way up his throat. Carlos blinked at the speaker in the corner of the hall.

_"And I fell in love instantly._" The embarrassment and shock quickly changed to anger. What the hell was this guy's problem? Was it common to openly mock new people that came into town? Carlos gave up on getting anything out of the vending machine, too upset to be hungry anymore. Everyone in the city had heard that. If he had any hope of being taken seriously…well it was going to be much harder now.

He stormed away from the building to wait for Adam in the car, looking over the map. He pointedly kept the radio off. Finally, his coworker joined him and they went back to the lab. It had been mostly set up. Everything was plugged in and organized. For the night they would sleep here in their sleeping bags and set up more permanent quarters later. Carlos suggested they go check out the town; get an idea of what they had in store.

So, they split up again, to cover more ground. They took the basic equipment and started with the large housing areas. Carlos and his team went to Desert Creek to search for any strange anomalies. They didn't have to go far. The 3rd street, named 'Cerebral Drive', had a house that didn't exist. Carlos didn't believe the equipment at first. It had to be faulty. But they re-calibrated it and it said the exact same thing.

The house had light blue peeling paint and darkened clean windows, with lacy curtains in them. It had a little dry yard and a tiny front porch. The door used to be white but now it was stained yellow. It had a rusty knocker and cracks in the side walk. But, according to…everything it just didn't exist. It wasn't like the houses on either side that had addresses and a mailbox. That had people inside and electricity radiating from them, which had heat and water running to them.

No, this one…just wasn't there. But, none of them had the guts to actually get closer and look in the window or ring the doorbell. Linda took pictures and the house was there but, the pictures were blurry. A curious citizen walked past and asked what they were doing. Carlos was the first to try and explain.

"Well…this house, well it just doesn't exist. It seems like it exists, like it's just right there when you look at it! And it's between two other identical houses, so it would make more sense for it to be there than not. But, we've done several tests, taken pictures and it…" He was getting tired of saying that because it was impossible. He mouth didn't like saying that something didn't exist when he could see it but, it was the truth. Science said it was the truth and a little thrum of excitement ran through his blood at that fact.

They were heading back to their lab when they got a text from Jeff who was panicking. They picked up the pace and arrived in time to see why. The seismic machine they'd just barely plugged in was going off the charts. Literally. The needle bounced around erratically. Carlos started in awe. By all means there should be a gigantic earth quake knocking them off their feet. This whole city should be in shambles. Carlos reset the machine. The same results and he licked his lips in exhilaration. Linda shivered and Jeff would probably be tearing his hair out if he had any.

They spent another couple hours trying different tactics and locations, but it remained the same. It read a 9.8 over and over again. He was still staring at the chart when a few of the others started arguing about something. He sighed and stood.

"What's going on now?"  
"It's…the sunset."  
"What?" Carlos asked, brows knitting together.  
"Well, this time of year, it should set at 8:15 pm…" Matt explained, hesitantly.  
"But…?"  
"Well, it's 8:05 and…the sun is down." Carlos looked behind Matt at the clock, only to have it be blocked by several other scientists who were staring at it as if it would change, taking frantic notes. One of them was on the phone, clarifying the situation.

Carlos shook his head. Sure it was interesting but, not as interesting as a non-existent house or earthquakes that you couldn't feel. But, knowing this crew, that's all they would focus on for the rest of the night. He took his Geiger and left the building, hoping into one of the cars and driving. He wasn't quite sure where. He reached over and flipped the machine on. It immediately started clicking. That was expected given the supposed old atomic testing site not too far away. His hand hovered over the radio knob. He didn't want a repeat of earlier but, the radio was a good source of information.

_"-his scientists at the monitoring station near Route 800, say that their seismic monitors have been indicating wild seismic shifts, meaning to say that the ground should be going up and down all over the place. I don't know about you folks, but the ground has been as still as the crust of a tiny globe rocketing through an endless void could be. Carlos says that they've double-checked the monitors, and they are in perfect working order. To put it plainly, there appear to be catastrophic earthquakes happening right here in Night Vale that absolutely no one can feel. Well...submit an insurance claim, anyway. See what you can get, right?"_

Carlos' mouth was dry. How…who was this guy? How did he know all of this? Maybe it was another anomaly. He glanced over at the map. He could see where the radio station was located. Without another thought, he turned down the street called 'Wisdom Teeth Cir.' Located between the City Hall and the Desert Bowling Alley and Fun Complex. And after a few minutes of driving, there it was. Next to the Moonlit Diner and across the street from Arby's. He pulled up into the nearly empty parking lot. It was an old looking building. Older than the diner or the City Hall for that matter. It was made of brick and had a little glowing neon sign outside that read 'ON AIR'.

Carlos pulled his Geiger counter from the seat next to him and held it aloft. It was beeping much faster now. He walked inside. The speakers were bigger and broadcasted that voice as he looked around curiously. It wasn't very big. He was in a little square room. On one side there was a water cooler, several chairs and a big door that read 'Station Management'. Next to it there were two bathrooms. He turned to look through the large glass window. It was filled with all sorts of recording equipment and a person, a person whose back was turned to him, with large headphones and whose hands were moving as he spoke.

The beeping was rather annoying. But, also…quite worrying. Was there really this much radiation coming from inside this little station?

_"And now…The Weather…"_ Instead of, however, a report of sand or sun, it was music. He glanced up at the speaker. Then back at the window. The voice had spun in his chair and was waving at Carlos through the glass. The man jumped from his chair and ran over to the sound proof door, opening it.

Carlos almost wanted to hold his Geiger up as a weapon against the smile that greeted him. The voice wasn't what he'd expected. This man wasn't short or tall or thin or fat or ugly or handsome. In fact, like a lot of people in this town there wasn't much that was spectacular about him. Nothing except the various tattoos on his arms (tentacles from some sea creature, several eyeballs, flowers and some other ones he didn't get the chance to see), where the sleeves were rolled up, and his smile that had just a little bit too much teeth. Nothing except the voice that came from him.

"Hello! You're Carlos the Scientist! Ah, it's so great to meet you formally." The voice said, hopping across the room, hand extended, grin wide and welcoming. Carlos swallowed and instinctively shook it, juggling the Geiger. "I'm Cecil. Cecil Baldwin."

"Um. Nice to meet you." Carlos replied, blinking. Was it a trick of the imagination or did the beeping grow louder? "I'm here to…" Why was he here? "To test this place for materials. Specifically radioactive, uh," He'd lost his train of thought, because as he'd began walking across the room towards the sound booth, the beeping just kept growing higher and louder and more insistent. Behind him, The Vo—Cecil, trailed along.

"Wow. That sure is a noisy box you have there." He commented, sitting on the desk to watch.

"I, yeah." His brows furrowed together, Carlos slowly ran the detector along the walls and the machines until he got to the microphone. He held up his radiation detector to the microphone and it chirped incessantly. The noise was deafening. They should be dead. They should be on the floor, crawling and wishing for death at least. This amount of radiation… his mouth was dry.

"Hey would you mind doing an interview?" Cecil asked, leaning against the wall, head leaning to the side. Carlos looked up, pupil's wide and breathing heavy.

"N-no. You…we have to evacuate the building. Evacuate the building!" He backed away from the microphone, expecting to drop dead at any second. Any second now. "You have to, everyone has to get out of here!" Carlos turned and ran from the station, hoping that the Voice headed his warning and got out of there. Despite how he'd humiliated him earlier, Carlos didn't wish death on anyone.

He pulled out of the parking lot and sped away. The beating of his heart in his ears nearly blocked out the sound of the music as it ended and Cecil began talking again. Maybe he was immune or something. Carlos looked up at the Arby's sign and nearly slammed on his breaks. Well not nearly, he did. The car screeched to a halt and he nearly broke his neck, trying to get out of the vehicle. There about a hundred feet above the glowing sign…were lights. Not helicopter lights which he had seen several times today, not the moon or stars or aurora borealis, but dancing, multi colored lights that kind of hurt to look at. He squinted against the brightness and felt his knees grow weak.

They were beautiful, playing a game of chase with each other, sparking and fading into black before exploding once again into daises or apples or magenta. He gave up and leaned against his car. This was insane. This was the most insane thing he'd ever done in his life and he'd done some insane stuff in his life. The feeling of fear and excitement balanced each other out.

This single day had given him more to search for than anything ever had. Night Vale was going to be the thing that made his career as a scientist worth it. He would learn everything he could about this town, unravel its secrets, beautiful and terrifying…or die trying.

The car was still going and Cecil's voice became a low backdrop, something as normal as the sand or the low, warm wind.

_"...Goodnight, listeners. Goodnight."_

A.N.:

Beta'd by MonsterPatrol who is awesome and any mistakes you might find are my fault.


	2. The Glow Cloud

It was Jeff, bald Jeff, Jeff who had discovered the indistinguishable seismic rifts of Night Vale, that left first. A mere 5 days after their arrival, Carlos watched the older man pack his things, muttering about the insanity of this place, how the heat had cooked everyone's brains to make them want to stay. Carlos stood with his other coworkers as Jeff turned to them all and pointed at one of their two cars, saying he could take 3 others out of here. None of them said anything. So the bald scientist climbed in, turned down the sand littered streets and drove into the distance. One by one they all went back inside, all except for Carlos who wondered how long it would take before someone else left.

It didn't take long before the remaining seven were down to six.

Her name was Jessica and she was brave and a bit reckless. But, really, it could've happened to any of them. There was no body left, so Adam sent home all of her equipment. Now they'd been in the town for only two weeks; two weeks of sleeping on the floor, of recording strange occurrences or horrifying creatures and Carlos had filled up a whole notebook with observations. Two weeks, and even Adam, their sturdiest colleague, looked haggard. Carlos, however, found that he only felt more energized, more motivated to solve the mystery of Night Vale.

It became an obsession, one that he easily slipped into without thinking too hard about it. He got tired of sleeping on the floor in a dirty warehouse with the sound of machinery buzzing in the background, so Carlos paid for an extended stay in a nearby motel. Maybe one day he would get an apartment. He went to the local Wal-Mart and bought toiletries and a cheap radio. The cashier gave him a knowing look that Carlos found hard to understand. He'd been listening to the voice much more often, jotting down strange things that he said, reminders to himself check them out.

He liked spending time in the downtown area, merely observing, as he did best. The people looked normal. They had jobs and went grocery shopping, pushed buggies with children in them, walked their dogs and yet, Carlos could swear that out of the corner of his eye…he saw giant swirling black clouds of teeth and hair or monstrous forms of flesh littered with a thousand eyes. But when he looked all he saw was Old Man Murphy or the local pizza man.

* * *

It was 6 in the morning and Carlos was drinking his coffee and reading over some reports when he heard something get pushed under his door. He paused and briefly wondered if he should acknowledge its presence. He walked over and picked up the thin piece of…no it wasn't plain paper. It was a sheet of red and blue dots. Brows furrowed, he scratched at one and a red dot came off. They were stickers then. Huh. Mentally, Carlos added that to the list of things he was confused about (it was a long list indeed), and put the stickers on the counter.

On his way out the door, he grabbed the cheap radio to use in the lab. The streets were nearly barren this morning, which made for easy driving. Carlos turned the car radio on.  
_"-esert seems vast. Even endless. And yet, scientists tell us that somewhere, even now, there is snow."_ He recalled a past conversation, not with the Voice but, with a local who was arguing the existence of snow. Carlos had been forced to bring in pictures and use his sternest scientist voice to convince him that snow was in fact real.

_"Welcome...to Night Vale. The Night Vale tourism board's "Visitable Night Vale" campaign has kicked off with posters encouraging folks to take their families on a scenery-filled jaunt through the trails of Radon Canyon. Their slogan? "The View is Literally Breathtaking!" Posters will be placed at police stations and frozen yogurt shops in nearby towns, along with promotional giveaways of plastic sheeting and re-bre-"_ Carlos made a mental note to visit this Radon Canyon. He parked in the warehouse lot and got out, thinking, always thinking, and he nearly missed the Glow Cloud. It was just in the distance, flashing a lime green and a bright violet. It was huge and looked much like a normal cloud with the exception of the flashing.

A small spark of terror rose in his chest and he rushed inside, slamming the door closed. His co-workers were already in a buzz. He set the radio up on a nearly empty counter and turned the volume all the way up to hear over their chatter.

_"-aid he would have thought it was the setting sun if it wasn't for the time of day. Apparently, the cloud glows in a variety of colors, perhaps changing from observer to observer, although all report a low whistling when it draws near."_ Carlos ran a hand through his hair. Another day, another mysterious entity.

_"One death has already been attributed to the Glow Cloud. But listen: it's probably nothing. If we had to shut down the town for every mysterious event that at least one death could be attributed to, we'd never have time to do anything, right? That's what the sheriff's secret police are saying. And I agree- although, I would not go so far as to endorse their suggestion to 'run directly at the cloud, shrieking and waving your arms, just to see what it does'."_

The scientist's brows furrowed. And not for the first time, he wondered if staying here was sane. Should he have gone with Jeff when he'd had the chance? The deep voice continued to pour from the speaker, even as Carlos finally forced himself to do actual work. He took daily observations on a variety of experiments they had running. Last Thursday, a dark liquid had poured from the sink instead of water. They were currently running tests on it to see if they could figure out what it was. They also had taken tons of other samples ,everything from grass to sand, and were comparing them to normal grass and sand to see if there was any microscopic difference.

_"..Can you believe this guy said he used "Indian magicks"? What an asshole."_ Carlos' lips quirked up into a faint, distracted smile. The hours went by and his coworkers continued to freak out about a variety of things. Carlos held up a test tube filled with the black liquid and watched it for any sign of movement or change. It was still. He put it down into the test tube holder and then everything began to vibrate.

He heard Linda scream and then a low whistling sound surrounded them. Carlos' hands went over his ears. A dull thump came from above, and then another. And another. He instinctively began to search for a weapon. Adam came up next to him, hands also to his ears, mouthing something.

"What?" He yelled.

"-LOW CLOUD!" His friend screamed, raising one arm and pointing at the ceiling. Carlos blinked and ran for the door, throwing it open and looking up. The sun was blocked out and the air all around him seemed to be moving in strange patterns. The whistling sound was much, much louder now. And there it was, bigger than he'd pictured, flashing over and over, glowing ethereally. A large lump fell from the cloud landed next to Carlos and he jumped backwards in fear. His eyes narrowed at the object; it was a rabbit. A dead rabbit. Then another lump fell and another. He didn't want to know their species. Carlos backed himself up until he could close the door. The thumps kept hitting the roof and he knew that more deceased animals were piling up and up and…

Carlos found he could hear his heart in his ears. Once again, that feeling of fear and wonder was back. And also…something else…something deeper. Darker. He turned back to his co-workers to tell them of his discovery, only to freeze in fear. They were standing where he'd left them, except their eyes and mouths were wide open and…glowing, flashing in time with the cloud.

The radio kept playing and the place kept shaking; he felt like he would vibrate out of his skin.

_"-e shop is offering a free dipped cone to anyone who can figure out how to get the thing off. The sheriff's secret police have apparently taken to shouting questions at the Glow Cloud, trying to ascertain what exactly it wants. So far, the Glow Cloud has not answered. The Glow Cloud does not need to converse with us. The Glow Cloud does not need to converse with us. It does not feel as we tiny humans feel."_

The darkness rose and in the place of his lab was a magnificent light; in its place was the Glow Cloud. Carlos stumbled forward and then lost himself in the flashing lime green and violent violet.

_"It has no need for thoughts or feelings of love._  
_The GLOW CLOUD simply IS. ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY GLOW CLOUD._  
_ALL HAIL."_

* * *

_"...Sorry, listeners! I'm not really sure what happened in that earlier section of the broadcast! As in, I actually don't remember what happened! Tried to play back the tapes, but they're all blank. And...smell faintly of...vanilla."_

Carlos stared up at the ceiling. So that's what that smell was. Vanilla. He pushed to his feet and looked around, worried. His fellow scientists, all 6 of them, were out cold on the floor. A quick check for pulses and he relaxed. They were all okay. Unconscious, but fine. Carlos then did a quick self-check. Once satisfied that he wasn't missing any limbs nor had any extra eyes, he stumbled to the door again to watch the Glow Cloud slide off into the distance. It was much easier to breathe now, and the whistling was gone. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

That was…terrifying. What… How had that…how? A million questions and no answers. Hell, even his questions were full questions made up of stuttered, horrified words.

_"Dear listeners, here is a list of things: emotions you don't understand upon viewing a sunset, lost pets found, lost pets unfound, a secret lost pet city on the moon. Trees that see. Restaurants that hear. A void that thinks."_

The Voice…Carlos sat down on the steps, closing his eyes to listen to the deep, almost…comforting speech.

_"A face half-seen just before falling asleep. Trembling hands reaching for desperately needed items. Sandwiches! Silence when there should be noise. Noise when there should be silence. Nothing when you want something. Something, when you thought there was nothing. Clear plastic binder sheets. Scented dryer sheets. Rain coming down in sheets. Night. Rest. Sleep. End."_

His words were slightly creepy but they also held such imagery that Carlos found himself distracted from the horror that had just happened. Inside he heard several of the others awakening and he forced himself to stand up and go in to help.

_"Goodnight, listeners. Goodnight."_

A.N.: Beta'd once again by MonsterPatrol on tumblr.


	3. Station Management

The first time Carlos felt true fear (not just shivers of terror or tingles of horror or a sense of foreboding) was the afternoon after another two of his fellow scientists left town, taking the last car with them.

Again the remaining members of the team stood on the steps of their make shift lab and watched the clunky car drive off into the desert sun, spraying a cloud of dust and sand. It was down to four of them; Carlos, Adam, his friend from college, Linda (who was very chipper despite everything), and Mark, a 'rookie' who was very determined to stick it out. He made a note to himself to buy another car, just in case. Just a few days ago he'd heard an ad about a car lot on the radio. Speaking of which…He turned the cheap knob and static changed into a deep voice, one that echoed through the entire town.

_"The Arctic is lit by the midnight sun. The surface of the moon is lit by the face of the Earth. Our little town is lit, too, by lights just above that we cannot explain. Welcome to Night Vale."_

Carlos only half listened to what the Voice was saying, using the majority of his brain to study various substances and items that they'd collected recently: the ooze that came from the wall in his apartment, samples of some of the citizens' blood (taken from the blood donation charity) and finally a few small (already dead) animals.  
The ooze wasn't composed of anything on the periodic table of elements.

The blood was... mostly normal. Except for the way the cells moved under the microscope. They didn't. They were stalk still. To compare he'd taken a few drops of his own blood and studied it. The cells flowed freely, moving, alive. The color was also a bit… off. As he leaned over the microscope he brushed his hair out of his eyes for the hundredth time.  
And the animals were a collection of what looked to be a rabbit, a lizard and an owl. Except the rabbit had three blank eyes, the lizard was a vibrant purple and the owl was deteriorating. Not into flesh and bones but, into an oily sludge.

For some reason, this made him nervous. Which was ridiculous and, honestly, rather confusing. It was just a couple dead animals. Animals that showed major signs of radiated mutation. And… ooze that shouldn't exist. And… blood... that wasn't acting like blood should...

It was bizarre and a bit disturbing but, Carlos had been dealing with all sorts of disturbing stuff for about a month now. This wasn't the weirdest thing he'd seen, by far. And yet…  
Adam nudged the other scientist, earning a sharp yelp from Carlos.

"Relax, Rioz," The other man said good naturedly, his white smile and messy blonde hair shining in the fluorescent light. "We're going to get lunch. Want anything?"

He started to shake his head, but then there was a low rumbling from his stomach, reminding him that he wasn't a machine run on science alone.  
"Oh. Uh, yes please? Where are you guys going? Rico's again?" Carlos wondered, a bit distastefully. They'd had pizza the last week or so and while it was pretty good, it was starting to make him nauseous.

"We were thinking Arby's actually."

"Oh uh sure. That sounds great, I'll have a sandwich or…something." He replied, attention already straying back to his experiments. Dimly, he heard Adam chuckle.

"And put your hair up, Rioz. It's going to catch on fire or something equally as dangerous."

Carlos frowned and heard the responding laughter of the other two scientists, which he ignored. The door shut and he reached up to touch his hair. It was curly and annoying. A glass case where they stored various instruments showed him his reflection and the unruly state of his dark brown locks. He hadn't gotten a haircut since the week before they'd come to Night Vale. Perhaps it was time to get a trim… He glanced back at the waiting experiments. Later. Tying his hair up using a borrowed band from Linda, Carlos returned to his experiments.

Distracted as he was, Carlos didn't hear The Voice speak about the books and their new, unusable forms or about the creeping fear that was slowly passing through the town. He did notice, though, that it was getting harder to breathe. That suddenly everything around him seemed ominous. He checked his heart rate and found it to be way above normal. He was panicking. He had no idea why. The experiments could come back to life and be angry with him for cutting up their deceased bodies. The ooze could transform into a full grown monster. The radiation could be getting to him, too. It wasn't healthy being this close to radiated objects.

Finally, true fear worked its way through his mind, stiffening his limbs and Carlos began to wonder if he was dying. Even the Voice didn't calm his nerves. It sounded far away and distorted. He had no idea how he ended up in the corner of their lab, breathing wildly and hands clutching a scalpel as a weapon against… something. Something was coming. He couldn't think clearly. Every breath could be his last. This thought could be a final one. Night Vale was winning against him. Carlos believed he would die here like sweet, reckless Jennifer who had been too curious, too brave. A whimper escaped his lips despite his best efforts.

Then as quickly as the fear was there, it was gone, leaving him in a breath of relief so strong it hurt. He was fine. Nothing was going to happen to him. Not while he could help it. Just be careful and study the town, stay alert, follow the rules, stay detached. Like a good scientist.

Carlos picked himself up off the floor and got a drink of water (from one of many, many bottles of it that they'd had imported after the first Thursday where the tap water had turned into black sludge). He gulped it down to soothe his dry mouth and began to take notes about the strange panic attack just as Adam, Matt and Linda walked in, talking excitedly.

They'd felt it too. Apparently, the Voice had said that everyone in town had felt it. But, now the creeping terror had moved on. Probably to Desert Bluffs. Strange. They had their lunch. It was delicious, and Carlos was glad he wasn't a science machine because most machines couldn't taste amazing curly fries.

He left the experiments in the care of his coworkers and left the lab. The sky was a deep turquoise, with soft peach clouds that seemed incredibly far away. They reflected the desert sun. Carlos brushed the sweat off his brow and began to walk down the sun bleached streets, hands in his pockets. Along the way, the good scientist met several locals who all stopped to compliment his hair or his skin or his eyes. Carlos who was flattered and a bit creeped out, said thanks and walked a bit quicker towards his destination; Telly's.  
The barber shop was nearly empty, but clean and air conditioned. Just for that, Carlos planned on leaving a generous tip. Telly himself was a pudgy man with hardly any hair himself, except for a thin, well-kept mustache. The man's face was keen and flushed from heat. The Italian accent rolled from his deep, booming voice.

"Sit, sit, Carlos! You are here for a haircut?" Said man was ushered into a waiting chair.

"Yes. It's getting a bit too long." Carlos replied, chewing on his bottom lip.  
"I see." Telly replied, pulling out a large cloak and draping it around his customer's front, turning the chair towards the foggy mirror. "How short would you like?"

Carlos stared at his reflection; dark skin, darker hair with gray at the temples. The image in the mirror was still not one he was sure he would ever feel comfortable calling himself.  
"Very short."

* * *

Carlos returned home to his apartment later that evening, feeling even more self-conscious than he had before the haircut had taken place. His coworkers had teased him about the fact that the man on the radio called his head 'perfectly shaped'. The Voice had somehow known about his haircut and had pretty much called a city wide man hunt on Telly.

The scientist ran a hand down the back of his neck and felt uneasy at the feeling of hairless skin. It was a good cut. It looked nice. It just wasn't what he was used to. His ears suddenly stood out much more and they were bigger than he remembered. Oh well. Not a big deal. Scientists didn't have to deal with outward appearances. They just needed to do respectable work.

With a barely there sigh, Carlos navigated his messy but still somehow organized apartment until he reached the small bathroom. He removed his contacts and took a hot shower. As he watched the stray pieces of hair wash down the drain, he thought about why the Voice cared so much about the dead strands of keratin on his head or if it was another joke. It had to be a joke. A cruel one. Who would get so mad about a haircut? What had Carlos done to deserve such ridicule? When he'd met the Voice, Cecil, the man hadn't seemed cruel. In fact he'd been kind. Or had that been an act, too?

Carlos exited the shower and dried himself off before dressing in pajamas, aka sweatpants and an old, faded t-shirt. A quick glance at the clock showed it was already 8 o clock. The radio show would be over by now, but it was too early to sleep and he didn't have a TV. He picked up the book that he'd been meaning to finish for a while now. With a suppressed yawn, Carlos went to turn to where he'd left off.

Immediately, things went wrong; instead of unassuming pages, there were teeth. Lots and lots of teeth and black strands of tentacles that jumped forward up, reaching desperately at his face. Carlos dropped the book and jumped backwards, eyes widening behind his reading glasses. The teeth snapped, hungry. The tentacles grew, black and inky. Layered voices read familiar words and the scent of bacon, fresh, fried bacon, hit him like a battering ram. The tentacles knew he was here.

Carlos swallowed and frantically searched for a weapon. There wasn't much here. He had never planned to stay in an apartment, because he'd never intended to be in Night Vale for over a month. There was, however, a scalpel he'd used to cut open boxes on the counter. Carlos lunged for it just as he felt one wrap around his ankle; slick, cold and needy. His fumbling fingers found the metal handle just as the world was jerked out from under him. He struck his elbow hard on the ground, and he knew there would be some bruises. The book couldn't retract its tentacles so it began to pull itself towards its prey, teeth snapping, drooling words and oozing the smell of meat.

Carlos fought back the panic and stabbed the melting pages, the sharp blade cutting into the binding. The creature howled and he did it again. This time, something spurted from the wound. Blood perhaps? No time to analyze. Just stab. So Carlos did. He demolished the possessed novel, arm working faster than he'd ever thought possible. The liquid kept spurting and the howling grew at first louder and then quieter and quieter until all was silent. Carlos gave it another quick, but deep incision with the scalpel before he dropped the weapon and collapsed against the wall.

He was panting. And covered in… (he looked at his hand) ...something that looked an awful lot like blood, if it wasn't exactly that. The book, or what had been a book, was still and in shreds. Carlos swallowed back his nausea at the overwhelming scent of bacon. A food he would never again eat.

Shaking a bit, Carlos made a mental checklist. Clean up. Put the thing in a grocery bag and in the freezer for further studying. Wipe the floor clean and take a shower. Don't sleep for the rest of the night. Maybe never again.

A.N.: Beta'd by MonsterPatrol on tumblr~ And I am ever so grateful.  
Thanks for all the comments. It motivates me in a way I'm not entirely used to. :)


	4. PTA Meeting

Carlos was startled awake when the lab door slammed shut. He'd fallen asleep at his desk again, several paper cups scattered around him, one still full of cold coffee. He gave it a mournful glance before looking up to see who had come in so early. It was Linda, one of the few remaining scientists that had accompanied him here nearly two months ago. She threw him a uneasy smile, dropping her stuff off at her work station before going to get herself a cup of joe from the machine. Carlos tried and failed to return the smile, the gesture cut off mid yawn.

The coffee machine made a ghastly screeching noise that neither of them really noticed anymore before the hot drink sputtered out into a paper cup. Carlos ran a hand down his face, feeling the two day stubble. He made a mental note to shave, before it was swiftly forgotten.

"Rioz, you've been here all night?"

Linda stirred sugar and crème into her hot beverage before taking a cautious sip. He stood and heard at least four joints crack. They both winced.

"Uh." Carlos looked down at his watch (golden and covered in scratches, worn brown leather strap, a gift from his papa) and noted, nearly subconsciously, how the hands seemed to move much…smoother than those of the clock face on the wall. "I guess so." His brown eyes went back to the clock on the wall, brows furrowing. He didn't trust those clocks. Time didn't work right in this town.

"—work done?" Linda was asking, patiently. Carlos blinked and looked back at her, dropping his wrist where he'd been looking back and forth at the two times; not far apart but…very different in how the hands moved. It was…off.

"What? I'm sorry."

Linda handed him a cup of coffee, a small smile on her face. He took it gratefully, sipping the liquid slowly and feeling the drowsiness leave him.

"Did you get much work done, then?" She asked, looking towards his desk area, where files, old cups and various samples were strewn everywhere. If he hadn't been so tired, he might've been embarrassed.

"Yes, uh, categorized several samples. Wrote out the conclusions for two experiments and," Stayed up till the Voice, melodic and soothing said goodnight, only then had it felt right to let his eyes fall shut, "some other things."

Linda had finished her coffee and threw the cup away. He distractedly watched her tie her tight wild curls up into some semblance of a bun.

"Why are you here so early?"

"Couldn't sleep."

"Oh." Carlos replied, swallowing the rest of his coffee in one gulp. It scalded his throat. Everyone was having trouble sleeping. Adam was walking around with dark circles under his eyes. Mark, the rookie, was usually asleep on his feet and because of it, often made mistakes. And Linda, usually chipper and energetic, was solemn and exhausted. Adam had said that when he did sleep it often resulted in nightmares: the sun burning him to a crisp, insects crawling from every single one of his orifices, drowning in blood, or being unable to move as dark cloaked figures pulled out his insides and pickled them. This town was affecting them. Carlos wondered if it was because they were outsiders. He'd been losing sleep too, but for different reasons. This town fascinated him as much as it horrified. And when he slept, nothing disturbed him but for the distant croon of some mysterious bird.

Carlos turned the radio on. He crushed his empty cup in his fist and listened.

"_The sun has grown so very, very old. How long, cold, fading death? How long? Welcome...to Night Vale._"

Somehow, he always managed to catch the very beginning of the show, no matter when he tuned in.

"_Our top story: Last night's Night Vale PTA meeting ended in bloodshed as a rift in space-time split open in the Main Street Recreation Center auditorium, setting loose several confused and physically aggressive pteranodons. The glowing portal remained open and shrieked incessantly, an unholy sound that witnesses say resembled noisy urchin children caught in a combine harvester, and then slowed down and amped up through some kind of open-source, easy to use audio editing software."_

Before the Voic—Cecil, had even finished speaking, Carlos had grabbed the car keys (to his used but, reliable car) and waved to Linda before bounding out the door. She didn't have to ask where he was going. Carlos often followed the news, driving across town, asking questions, and writing things down with the Voice as his guide. He usually spent the entire day in town and the rest of the evening in the lab.

* * *

The Recreation Center was a disaster; the windows were blown out, walls knocked down, several cars were crushed, and the entire place was surrounded by S.S. Police vehicles and violet tape. They let him through without so much as a question. The interior was worse. Debris littered the tiled floor, smeared with blood that no one had cleaned up yet (quite a lot of it, which led Carlos to believe that more than one person had probably died). Tables were upturned and chairs lay in a tangled mess. But what really got Carlos' attention was the large, glowing, swirling portal.

He bypassed the four people sitting on the floor, clutching their heads and moaning about seeing all of time and space. He hardly breathed as he started into the misty film of the portal. Carlos knew it was a bad idea to touch it. So, instead, he took careful observations. It smelled like wet dirt and the air was vibrating ever so slightly the closer you got to it. It's color was all at once clear and opaque, light and dark, all colors blended and no color at all.

Carlos almost stepped on someone in his wide eyed observations. That someone was a college student from nearby that had done what everyone wanted to do: stuck his head inside to see what he could see. The poor soul, along with a few others, had glimpsed into whatever lied beyond the swirling portal. A twinge of jealousy actually arose in him, even as he noticed how very not O.K. the college kids were. They looked…fairly normal. But, it was their eyes... Wide and empty, and yet you knew they were still seeing what had been behind that portal. They were older without looking old. Ancient and terrified and ready to die.

Carlos still tried to ask them what they had seen, to no avail. He spent at least another hour in the wrecked building preforming various scientific tasks; trying to rouse the students, preforming tests by throwing random things inside the portal to see what would happen, snapping blurry photos, and generally avoiding going back to the lab. (Back to tired coworkers and the mocking clocks, back to cold coffee and the feeling of being…off. He was off when compared to everyone else. Carlos felt abnormal for not feeling out of sorts and terrified like his fellow scientists. It was almost a guilty feeling. But, mainly, it just brought up a ton of questions about himself that he wasn't sure he was ready to answer).

Eventually though, the police had to evacuate the building because they'd found the missing pterodactyl. The black clad, head-set wearing people backed Carlos and everyone else out across the violet tape into the searing sunshine. He hadn't even been aware that any of the creatures had still been on the loose until he'd heard a few random citizens casually chatting about it, but he wasn't too concerned about that part. He was concerned, however, with somehow getting back inside before they shoved it back into the portal. He had to get pictures. Had to.

"'Scuse me." Carlos murmured to an older couple.

"Can I get past you, please?" He hissed, squeezing by Rico, the town's head pizza-maker.

"Perdóneme." The scientist said, feeling more and more anxious as the precious seconds passed.

People let him by easily enough. The violet tape swayed in a non-existent breeze and he came toe to toe with one of the Sheriff's Secret Police, who he was mostly sure had a face somewhere behind the large sunglasses and headset and official helmet.

"Can I please get past here?" Carlos asked, a bit out of breath. "I feel like science would benefit hugely from any observations I can get from the pterodactyl."

The officer's expression didn't twitch. But his fingers did and slowly, almost robotically, the figure lifted the tape. Carlos took a few milliseconds to glance back and forth between the officer and the tape before he ducked under it, unwilling to risk a change of heart.

An expensive camera (purchased soon after his arrival) was clutched in his hand. Excitement beat against the inside of his rib cage. He couldn't stop himself from sprinting to the auditorium, dirty sneakers screeching against the floor. Carlos rushed into the room and expected to hear overwhelming noises from a wild, scared, angry pre-historic beast. He expected flashes of wings and people rushing to restrain the animal as they herded it back from whence it came.

There was none of that. Nothing but a bunch of black clad people, the swirling vortex into the unknown, and a large green tarp. Carlos stopped and felt his breath catch.

Oh, they'd caught the pterodactyl alright.

The police looked as though they had been waiting for him. The officer at the front must've signaled them from their headsets. He walked towards the group. With furrowed brows, the scientist reached down to grasp the edge of the tarp. He offered a small glance in the direction of the nearest officer, before Carlos tugged on the plastic cover. The smell hit him first (dead creatures of any kind in the hot sun for hours do not an air freshener make), followed immediately by disbelief. This used to be a great, ancient beast. Now it was bones with muscle and veins hanging from them, the flesh gone, stripped cleanly from it's skeleton as easy as if someone had pealed a banana. And around it's iconic skull (the eyeballs covered in sand and film) hung all the internal organs. Like some sort of sick mockery of a crown.

"I—" Carlos suddenly realized he hadn't eaten anything all day. The coffee from earlier sunk down in his stomach and turned into a whirlpool. "Where did you find it?" _'You didn't do this, did you?'_- was what Carlos didn't ask.

"The Dog Park." One of them said. Which one he couldn't be sure, since the voice came from no where and anywhere.

"Oh." And somehow, suddenly, inexplicably, it made sense. Carlos swallowed down another rush of nausea. A sweaty palm still gripped the camera, keeping the device from falling and shattering against the floor. If he'd been stronger or braver or feeling less like he was going to throw up, he would've taken several detailed pictures. It was still noteworthy after all. How many people got to see the remains of a dinosaur so soon after it's death?

But, he couldn't. It didn't feel right. Nothing felt right.

Carlos covered the lost creature back up again. Then he turned around and walked away. There was the sound of scraping as the tarp moved against the linoleum and then the vibration increased. Just before the door to the exit closed behind him, there was pure, final silence.

* * *

The car started up and so did the radio.

_" -ay tuned for our one-hour special, "Morse Code for Trumpet Quintets"!"_

Carlos grimaced. He'd caught the very end. He went to turn it off, to drive…somewhere (home, the lab?) in silence, thinking, always thinking. But, then the Voic—Cecil's next words stopped him.

_"And, listeners: Night Vale is an ancient place, full of history and secrets...as we were reminded today. But it is also a place of the present moment, full of life, and of us. If you can hear my voice, speaking live, then you know: We are not history yet. We are happening now. How miraculous is that? ...Goodnight, listeners. Goodnight._"

The station switched immediately to the stupid Morse Code trumpet thing, but Carlos wasn't listening anymore.

"Full of life…" He murmured, with parted lips. They were fairly simple words, but they still somehow leaked inside his cluttered mind and managed to sooth the festering wounds. After such a hectic, gloomy day… that someone could say such a thing… could still have hope…

Who knew what tomorrow would bring? Maybe another one of his co-workers would leave. Or die. Maybe he was 'off' because all of this, even the nightmares and the biting books and the constant feeling of being on the verge of dream and reality, felt brilliant.

But, no matter what, he was alive. They were alive. Right now, they were making history in the most simple and complicated ways...

Carlos pulled up at the only red light in town and closed his eyes for a second.

It _was_ pretty miraculous.

* * *

Sorry for the long wait. I got caught up with school and lack of motivation but, I'm back after brilliant new episode 32. (squeaaak)

Beta'd, as per the usual, by Monster-Patrol on tumblr! My eternal thanks.


End file.
